The present invention relates to an improved apparatus for quarter folding a newspaper that has already been shaped into the conventional half-folded form. Specifically, the apparatus includes means associated with the tucker blade assembly that extends downwardly from a rotating cage on which the tucker blade is mounted into the space between the cage and a newspaper supporting table located above the fold rollers at the time that the newspaper is being drawn down into the rolls for folding.
The production of folded articles such as newspapers or the like generally comprises printing the desired subject matter on a travelling web, running the web over a former to fold it in the longitudinal direction and then subsequently cutting the lengthwise folded material into pieces of the appropriate length. These cut pieces are then half folded by suitable folder and delivered to a conveyor belt in the standard newspaper configuration size. By "standard newspaper size," it is meant the half-folded product in which the newspaper has two folded edges and two cut edges, the one folded edge being transverse to the length of the newspaper about midway between the ends thereof and the other folded edge extending along the lefthand longitudinal side of the newspaper. The two extremities and the other longitudinal edge are of course free, with the two transverse free ends being adjacent to each other because of the longitudinal center fold. While this configuration constitutes the larger proportion of newspaper production, in many instances, it is desired to again fold the already half-folded product, this being referred to as quarter folding, to produce an article of tabloid size. If a tabloid is to be produced, then a further cut must be made to free specific folded edges. However, in some cases, the half-folded product is quarter folded merely for mailing or other handling purposes.
In the past, during the quarter folding operation, it was found that when the folded edges are brought into contact with the free edges, the free edges bounce or fly away and then are folded back on themselves as they go through the fold rolls, thereby producing what are known as "dog-ears." In those instances where mailing is the cause for the product to be quarter folded, it often occurs that the dog-ears are located at the site where automatic equipment attaches mailing tags or labels, this constituting a handling problem.
The problem of dog-ears occuring during folding operations in the production of newsprint is recognized in the art and two proposals for reducing the severity of the dog-ear effect can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,160,198 and 4,053,150.
It is a principal object of this invention to provide a simple yet effective apparatus for reducing the occurrence of dog-ears in quarter-folded products such as newspapers and the like.
It is an additional object of this invention to provide an attachment to the existing tucker blade apparatus that serves to reduce the volume of space between it and the fold rolls so that the ends of the newspaper being drawn together will be confined and not be allowed to fly against each other.